Coca-Cola executives think providing only
1.5% of their workers
in Africa with access to HIV/AIDS treatment and care is enough.

DEMAND COKE PROVIDE HEALTH CARE TO ALL HIV+
WORKERS IN AFRICA

APRIL 17th
2002 ~ New York City Rally

Coke only provides HIV/AIDS health
care coverage to its 1,500 "direct employees," neglecting
the rest of the 100,000 men and women who bottle and distribute
Coke products under exclusive licensing agreements in Africa.

Meet at 11 am to protest Coke's deadly neglect
for HIV+ workers in Africa--then join union activists for a rally
against Coke's complicity in the face of murder and torture of
union workers in Columbia.

Coke, the largest private employer in Africa,
profits off workers faced with a health pandemic of unprecedented
scale.

-- In 2001 alone, AIDS killed 2.3 million
African people.

-- That same year, Coca-Cola's net operating
revenues in Africa came to $621 million, the highest growth rates
among all regions.

-- Coke's most profitable markets in the
continent are in sub-Saharan Africa--where 26 million people are
infected.

-- Every day 8,000 people with HIV/AIDS
die because the life-sustaining antiretroviral medications that
have dramatically improved the health of people with HIV in wealthy
nations are out of reach.

-- 95% of the world's 40 million people
with HIV do not have access to necessary treatment and care because
multinational corporations and world leaders don't consider treating
them to be "cost effective."

(New York, New York) During multiple disruptions
of the awards ceremony Wednesday June 12 of the Global Business
Council on HIV/AIDS, members of the AIDS activist group ACT UP
and Health GAP demanded multinational corporations like Coca-Cola
pay for medicines for employees in developing countries facing
death from untreated HIV disease.

While activists inside the gala interrupted
the ceremony, confronting members of Anglo-American, Coca-Cola,
and other companies with massive workforces in Africa, other ACT
UP members chanted from bullhorns while floating alongside the
gala at Pier 60 in a boat "Coke lies, workers die, AIDS treatment
now!" The ceremony, sponsored by the Global Business Council
on HIV/AIDS, was emceed by Dan Rather and attended by Kofi Annan,
Bill Clinton, Dick Holbrooke, and other luminaries.

"Crumbs from Coca-Cola and other corporations
for workers dying with AIDS are nothing to celebrate," said
Sharonann Lynch of Health GAP and ACT UP New York. "Companies
are patting themselves on the back, but they have skirted their
most fundamental obligation-paying for treatment for their HIV
positive workers."

At Coca-Cola's annual shareholder's meeting
in April 2002 activists launched a campaign singling out the beverage
company, the largest sole private sector employer in Africa, for
their refusal to pay for HIV treatment for workers in their bottling
and distribution facilities. Coca-Cola, despite its massive African
employee base, has offered little more than billboard and truck
space to African country governments for anti-AIDS advertisements
and safe sex materials. Coca-Cola has only agreed to permit treatment
access for a handful of HIV positive employees they consider their
"direct employees."

"Multinational companies have no laurels
to rest on," said ACT UP New York co-founder and HIV-positive
activist Eric Sawyer. "Coca-Cola, Anglo-American and other
members of the Global Business Council have reneged on their promises
to provide antiretroviral treatment and care to their workers
and their families. Medical apartheid is nothing to be proud of."

"How can Coke make so much profit from
the labor of HIV positive employees but refuse to pay for AIDS
medicines?" asked Amanda Lugg of ACT UP New York. "Africa
is Coke's largest growth market. Coke's inaction is unconsionable."

As attendees dined inside, protesters knocked
on the windows, held up signs, and chanted names of companies
that had shirked their responsibility in paying for workplace
treatment. "Last year Coca-Cola and Anglo-American grabbed
headlines with announcements of workplace initiatives. In the
past twelve months, Anglo-American has reneged twice on its treatment
policy, while Coca-Cola has failed to treat its workers and their
families," said protester Eustacia Smith of ACT UP New York.
"Meanwhile there are 8,000 deaths and 14,000 new HIV infections
every day."

June 12, 2002
ACT UP New York · Health GAP

Global Business Council on
HIV/AIDS
Awards Gala Ploy to Detract from Inaction
on Global AIDS Disaster, say AIDS Activists

(New York, New York) During multiple disruptions
of the awards ceremony Wednesday June 12 of the Global Business
Council on HIV/AIDS, members of the AIDS activist group ACT UP
and Health GAP demanded multinational corporations like Coca-Cola
pay for medicines for employees in developing countries facing
death from untreated HIV disease.

While activists inside the gala interrupted
the ceremony, confronting members of Anglo-American, Coca-Cola,
and other companies with massive workforces in Africa, other ACT
UP members chanted from bullhorns while floating alongside the
gala at Pier 60 in a boat "Coke lies, workers die, AIDS treatment
now!" The ceremony, sponsored by the Global Business Council
on HIV/AIDS, was emceed by Dan Rather and attended by Kofi Annan,
Bill Clinton, Dick Holbrooke, and other luminaries.

"Crumbs from Coca-Cola and other corporations
for workers dying with AIDS are nothing to celebrate," said
Sharonann Lynch of Health GAP and ACT UP New York. "Companies
are patting themselves on the back, but they have skirted their
most fundamental obligation-paying for treatment for their HIV
positive workers."

At Coca-Cola's annual shareholder's meeting
in April 2002 activists launched a campaign singling out the beverage
company, the largest sole private sector employer in Africa, for
their refusal to pay for HIV treatment for workers in their bottling
and distribution facilities. Coca-Cola, despite its massive African
employee base, has offered little more than billboard and truck
space to African country governments for anti-AIDS advertisements
and safe sex materials. Coca-Cola has only agreed to permit treatment
access for a handful of HIV positive employees they consider their
"direct employees."

"Multinational companies have no laurels
to rest on," said ACT UP New York co-founder and HIV-positive
activist Eric Sawyer. "Coca-Cola, Anglo-American and other
members of the Global Business Council have reneged on their promises
to provide antiretroviral treatment and care to their workers
and their families. Medical apartheid is nothing to be proud of."

"How can Coke make so much profit from
the labor of HIV positive employees but refuse to pay for AIDS
medicines?" asked Amanda Lugg of ACT UP New York. "Africa
is Coke's largest growth market. Coke's inaction is unconsionable."

As attendees dined inside, protesters knocked
on the windows, held up signs, and chanted names of companies
that had shirked their responsibility in paying for workplace
treatment. "Last year Coca-Cola and Anglo-American grabbed
headlines with announcements of workplace initiatives. In the
past twelve months, Anglo-American has reneged twice on its treatment
policy, while Coca-Cola has failed to treat its workers and their
families," said protester Eustacia Smith of ACT UP New York.
"Meanwhile there are 8,000 deaths and 14,000 new HIV infections
every day."

OCTOBER 17, 2002----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[see
top of page]

GLOBAL
DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST CORPORATIONS DENYING AIDS DRUGS

ACT UP and AIDS activists around the globe
demanded Coca-Cola and other multinational corporations pay for
AIDS treatment for workers living with HIV/AIDS in developing
countries. An international coalition of activists--from Accra
to Manhattan, from Casablanca to Oakland, from Harare to Atlanta--targeted
Coca-Cola with simultaneous protests, pickets, press conferences,
mmarches and more on October 17, for Coke's refusal to pay for
HIV medicines for sick workers in developing countries, particularly
African countries.

AIDS activists leading a global campaign
to pressure multinational corporations to pay for AIDS treatment
for workers in developing countries today criticized Coca-Cola's
initiative to enroll African bottlers in a cost-sharing program
to provide HIV/AIDS care benefits to workers. Activists raised
concerns over the scope, timing, and sustainability of the Coke
initiative, claiming it fails to provide affordable and equitable
access to AIDS treatment for workers and their dependents.

"Even as a first step, the plan leaves
the majority of Coke's workers and their dependents in a deadly
lurch," said Sharonann Lynch of Health GAP. "Fifteen
months have passed since Coke first claimed it would negotiate
with bottlers to cover AIDS drugs. Coke's glacial pace contradicts
the company's rhetoric of compassion and action and makes us deeply
skeptical about the rollout of the announced treatment program."

While the activists welcome the company's
admission that the provision of AIDS treatment, including antiretroviral
(ARV) therapy, for bottlers is a fundamental company responsibility,
they claim that Coke's plans will be implemented too slowly, and
that the framework will only suit the largest bottlers---leaving
the majority of workers in the hardest hit regions and the smaller
bottlers behind.

Coca-Cola first gained attention when it
announced in June 2001 that its 1500-person so-called "direct
workforce" in Africa would be eligible for HIV treatment.
Critics have charged the company with hiding behind its labyrinthine
African franchise system to resist covering its total workforce,
which totaled 100,000 workers at the time of the announcement.
Today's announced initiative will cover just 35% of Coke's bottler
workforce in Africa.

Activists speculate that Coke's 50% cost-sharing
scheme with bottlers will delay the rollout of a treatment program
with the numerous smaller bottlers that compose the rest of the
Coke system. "The same cost-sharing scheme won't work for
small and medium-sized bottlers. They can't foot the bill, and
shouldn't be expected to," said Allison Dinsmore of Health
GAP."

The bottlers are worried about paying for
the high cost of treatment over the long-term. This concern is
particularly acute since Coke has already announced its intent
to withdraw from the program over time as the prices of drugs
decreases, leaving workers and bottlers to foot the entire bill.

Activists also warn that the partnership
with GlaxoSmithKline and PharmAccess International, which will
apparently exclude purchases of lowest cost quality generic AIDS
drugs, will mean that fewer workers will be able to afford treatment.

"Workers are too poor to cover of a
10 per cent co-payment on medicines, particularly at Big Pharma
prices," said Asia Russell of Health GAP. "Coke, on
the other hand, can easily bear the cost of subsidizing treatment
in Africa--it's operating profit margin in Africa is twice that
in North America. We demand that workers not be forced to pay
for treatment and that Coke bring generic companies to the negotiating
table."

Activists also charge Coke with putting
its profits above the lives of people with AIDS by refusing to
extend coverage to children and dependents of workers other than
spouses. "The prospect of parents taking life-saving medicines
while their HIV-infected children die is inexplicable and indefensible,"
said Brook Baker of Health GAP. "Coke should treat whole
families, not just fathers and mothers."

Activists criticized Coca-Cola's for its
failure to commit to provide treatment for workers in poor areas
outside of Africa. "Coke employes hundreds of thousands of
other system workers worldwide in developing countries,"
said John Riley of ACT UP New York. "Given the explosive
epidemics in India, South East Asia, and Latin America, Coke's
solution should be global, not just where activists have turned
up the heat the highest."

"When it comes to bad faith and people
with AIDS, Coke is neck and neck with Big Pharma," said Eustacia
Smith of ACT UP New York.

Coke's announcement comes just three weeks
before a day of international protests on October 17, 2002, against
Coca-Cola for the company's refusal to pay for AIDS treatment
for workers in developing countries, planned by an international
coalition of AIDS groups (see list below). Protests are scheduled
to take place in multiple cities and on major college campuses
in the U.S. Events are also planned in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria,
Zimbabwe, Morocco, and several other African countries, as well
as in Thailand, Canada, Portugal, Japan, Norway, India, UK, and
France.

OCTOBER 17,
2002
GLOBAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST CORPORATIONS DENYING AIDS DRUGS

DE-BUNKING COKE'S "NON-PLAN"

After many months of campaigning, Coke is
starting to give in to activist pressure.

AIDS activists have been demanding that
the company pay for HIV drugs and treatment for workers living
with HIV among the 100,000 people who bottle and distribute Coke-not
just Coke's so-called "direct workforce" of 1500 people.

On September 29, 2002, Coke announced they
planned to start an initiative to share the costs of AIDS treatment
with 8 of 40 bottlers in Africa. These 8 participating bottlers
are some of the largest in Africa, and several already have insurance
plans of their own.

Activists are concerned about Coke's commitment
to extending a workable plan quickly to the many smaller bottlers
starting medicines schemes from scratch. The devil is in the details,
and the details from Coke are not forthcoming.

- Coke will demand workers contribute a
10% co-payment on drugs. Activists point out this is Coke's cynical
ploy to drive down use of the program by creating barriers to
access. Workers can't afford a co-payment and won't use the program.
Coke on the other hand can easily afford the cost of the co-pay-marginal
for them.

- Coke isn't committing to buying from multiple
drug suppliers. Maximum benefit for workers comes from drugs procured
at the cheapest price. That means negotiating price with multiple
companies, including generic producers. When will Coke publicly
commit to using generic competition to ensure maximum coverage
of workers?

- What about the family? Children of workers
aren't covered under the current plan-only the worker and one
spouse. Coke must not be allowed to leave the HIV-positive children
of workers behind.

- What about the rest of the world? Coke's
workplace policies in Africa are less than perfect. But in the
rest of the developing world, they are worse. Coke workers in
regions hard-hit by AIDS need comprehensive treatment, prevention
and care programs-including access to antiretroviral drugs

DEMANDS

We demand that Coca-Cola and other multinational
corporations operating in developing countries:

* Provide all workers and their dependents
with comprehensive healthcare - including life-sustaining antiretroviral
treatments.

* Offer confidential HIV testing and counseling
to all workers, in the context of a clear anti-discrimination
policy.

TAKE ACTION: TELL COKE EXECUTIVES TO
PROVIDE AIDS TREATMENT FOR ALL OF THEIR HIV+ WORKERS IN AFRICA

Write, Fax, and Call Coca-Cola today:

- Phone: 404-676-4971 or Fax: 404-515-2226
- Download and fax in the community
letter to Coke's CEO Doug Daft: www.treat-your-workers.org

Coke's neglect = death for
African workforce

Coke, the largest private employer in Africa,
profits off workers faced with a health pandemic of unprecedented
scale.

-- In 2001 alone, AIDS killed 2.3 million
African people.

-- That same year, Coca-Cola's net operating
revenues in Africa came to $621 million, the highest growth rates
among all regions.

-- Coke's most profitable markets in the
continent are in sub-Saharan Africa--where 26 million people are
infected.

-- Every day 8,000 people with HIV/AIDS
die because the life-sustaining antiretroviral medications that
have dramatically improved the health of people with HIV in wealthy
nations are out of reach.

-- 95% of the world's 40 million people
with HIV do not have access to necessary treatment and care because
multinational corporations and world leaders don't consider treating
them to be "cost effective."

- Develop further HIV/AIDS prevention and
education policies in collaboration with affected employees, their
labor representatives, and community-based health initiatives.
For the full set of demands, read the community
letter to CEO Douglas Daft

* August 12, 2002 (Manhattan) The
AIDS activist groups ACT UP and Health GAP, who have been leading
campaigns demanding multinational corporations like Coca Cola
for AIDS treatment for African employees, offered provisional
support for today's announcement from De Beers Consolidated Mines,
and Anglo-American's recent announcement, committing the companies
to treating its HIV positive workers. Activists announce a Global
Day of Protest against corporations denying AIDS drugs. Press
Statement

* 30 JUNE 2002 (New York) ACT UP
New York Target Coca-Cola at New York Gay Pride Parade to demand
Coke pay for AIDS drugs for workers in poor countries. ACT UP
New York Press
Release

* JUNE 12, 2002 (Manhattan) ACT UP
New York crash Global Business Council gala to demand Coca-Cola
and other multinational corporations pay for treatment for workers
living with HIV/AIDS. Activists disrupt ceremony, attended by
Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton, and other dignataria by land, and by
sea. Press
Statement